OpenStax
Open Stax: West Africa and the Role of Slavery
This section of a chapter on "The Americas, Europe, and Africa Before 1492" takes a look at the major West African empires and discusses the roles of Islam and Europe in the slave trade.
C3 Teachers
C3 Teachers: Inquiries: Global Trade
A learning module on global trade. It includes several supporting questions accompanied by formative tasks and source materials, followed by a summative performance task. Students investigate what countries export and import, the factors...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Us History: 1491 1607: African Societies and Atlantic Slave Trade
The beginning of the Atlantic slave trade uprooted previously established societal norms in West Africa.
![Read Works: West Africa: West African Slave Trade [Pdf] Activity](https://static.lp.lexp.cloud/images/attachment_defaults/resource/large/FPO-knovation.png "Read Works: West Africa: West African Slave Trade [Pdf] Activity")
Other
Read Works: West Africa: West African Slave Trade [Pdf]
An informational text about the West African slave trade. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
Understanding Slavery Initiative
Understanding Slavery Initiative: Africa Before Transatlantic Enslavement
The history of West Africa provides a context for learning about the transatlantic slave trade. Discover the rich cultural traditions and economic networks that existed in the West African empires such as Ghana, Mali, and Songhay long...
Other
West Chester University: The Trans Atlantic Economy in 1800
This short but good article examines the state of trade as it existed in 1800 between Europe, the Americas and Africa. There is a nice discussion on the slave trade as well as the need for the Europeans to acquire more markets for their...
Digital History
Digital History: Enslavement
A very good description of how Africans were enslaved in Africa for sale to the Europeans. See how the introduction of European weapons changed the dynamic in West Africa.
Louisiana Department of Education
Louisiana Doe: Louisiana Believes: Grade 6 Social Studies: West African Kingdoms
Students develop and express claims through discussions and writing which examine the impact of relationships between ideas, people, and events across time and place. To accomplish this, they recognize recurring themes and patterns in...
University of Calgary
University of Calgary: Africa the Search for Gold and Slaves
Historical background of the reasons for European exploration of Africa. Tutorial Links to further European trade and exploration.
History Teacher
Historyteacher.net: Global Studies: African Slave Trade Quiz
Choose the correct answer for each of the nine multiple choice questions to evaluate your comprehension of African slave trade.
Curated OER
Macmillan/mc Graw Hill: The World, Vol. 1: Trade & Tradition: Lesson 5 Quiz
Five question quiz tests your knowledge of trade and traditions in ancient West Africa.
Understanding Slavery Initiative
Understanding Slavery Initiative: Emancipation
Although the British Parliament passed the Abolition of Slavery Act in August 1833, the trade continued, and for many years there were exceptions to abolition. Learn how the British government attempted to prevent the slave trade from...
Other
World Socialist Web Site: A Journey Through Africa's Civilizations
From the World Socialist Web Site, this is a review of Harvard professor Henry Gates' book, "Wonders of the African World." It includes interesting details of Gates' attempts to piece together a view of precolonial African history. (4...
BBC
Bbc News: Focus on the Slave Trade
BBC News offers a short summary of the slave trade from Africa to the Americas. Gives statistics on the number of slaves (estimated at 10 to 28 million), where they went, and the cruel conditions of their enslavement.
Curated OER
Educational Technology Clearinghouse: Maps Etc: Colonial West Africa, 1920
Map of Western Africa in 1920 showing the Upper Guinea States of Gambia, Portuguese Guinea, Sierra Leon, Liberia, British Gold Coast, Togo, Dahomey, Northern and Southern Nigeria, Kamerun, and Spanish Guinea. The map also shows the...
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: West African Society at the Point of European Contact
Prior to European contact, western Africa's powerful kingdoms supported the arts, technology, and thriving economies. Read about the areas from which slaves were transported before the transatlantic trade began.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: Bridging World History: Early Global Commodities
This unit examines globalization from its true origins rooted in China's desire for silver and in Spain's conquest of mines in America.
Open Door Team
Open Door Web Site: France in Western Africa
A brief explanation of French imperialist desires and holdings in Western Africa.
Digital History
Digital History: Slavery and Spanish Colonization
Read about the slave trade and use of slaves in agriculture and mining in Spanish America in the New World. Find out why it was expedient to use African slaves.
Library of Congress
Loc: African Immigration: Africans in America: Life in a Slave Society
An excellent overview of the African American experience in America beginning with West Africa during the slave trade, through emancipation and reconstruction, to "New beginnings."
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Freedom, Making of African American Identity: V. 1, 1500 1865
Twenty nine primary sources-historical documents, literary texts, and visual images-that explore the qualities and conditions of African lives on the west coast before and during the European slave trade.
Countries and Their Cultures
Countries and Their Cultures: Mamprusi
The people now known as the "Mamprusi" occupy the East and West Mamprusi districts of northern Ghana. Agriculture and animal husbandry provide subsistence for most of the population. Sheep, goats, pigeons, fowl, and guinea foul are kept...
Countries and Their Cultures
Countries and Their Cultures: Jews of the Middle East
Prior to 1948, Jewish communties were found discontinuously in an area stretching from southwest Asia across North Africa, from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in the north to Yemen in the south, and from Afghanistan in the east to Morocco in...
Countries and Their Cultures
Countries and Their Cultures: Okiek
"Okiek" is the name of a Kenyan people who formerly lived by hunting game, making beehives, and gathering and trading honey; it is also the name of their language. The collective name "Okiek" includes over two dozen local groups, each...